Jack Fralick 1919 - 2001Jack Fralick, a 50-year member of the American Alpine Club, passed away in February, 2001 at the age of 81. Jack served on the Club’s Safety Committee, wrote the Committee’s fourth annual Safety Report in 1951, and initiate...
Cerro Giobbi and Cerro Centinela, First Ascents. I decided to take a sabbatical to guide young climbers to unexplored mountain ranges and to give them, in practical terms, some of the climbing forces that drove us in the 1960s.In January, 1997, we...
Artesonraju, South Face. Our expedition comprised five members of the Club Andino Peruano. We crossed Laguna Parón by boat and ascended toward the Pirámide de Garcilaso, but we were surprised to discover that the north side of this mountain was no...
FALL ON ICE, NO PROTECTIONNorth Carolina, Whiteside MountainsAt 2 p.m. on the afternoon of February 6, 1978, Jeff Bates (21) from Atlanta, Georgia, was killed in a fall at the base of the North Face of Devil’s Courthouse, a large granite outcrop o...
Fernow, North Face Ice Apron Variation. The north face of Femow was climbed rather indirectly in 1961 by the Prater-Wickwire party, the last 500 feet of the headwall being avoided by a westward traverse. On a cold September 30 Dave Beckstead, Mark...
Parvati Valley, Various Ascents. The expedition was a joint effort of the Himalayan Club, Mumbai, and The Mountaineers, Seattle. The primary aim of the expedition was to have a climbing holiday in a congenial mountain setting, to promote friendshi...
Prusik Peak, South Face of West Ridge. On August 16, Rich Romano and I ascended the leftmost crack system on the south face of Prusik. The large overhang on the second pitch was passed on the right. A short overhanging hand crack and airy face mov...
Nanda Khat Tragedy. The leader of a Himalayan Association of Japan expedition, Morio Kajima, was the only survivor when avalanches overwhelmed the other seven. Base Camp was set up in late August and three other high camps were established. On Oct...
Kanchenjunga Attempt from the North. Our members were Alois Farber, Georg Hess, Franz Leutgäb, Walter Schmidt, Dr. Klaus Wiener, my wife Dietlinde as Base-Camp manager, and I as leader. We approached from Dhankuta via Dhoban and Ghunsa in 19 days ...
Muztagh Ata, West Ridge. Participants of the Tomsk Sport Club “Burevestnik,” Russia, climbed Muztag Ata (7546 m) by the west ridge on the following days in September: September 19 (Dmitry Bochkov plus four people); September 21 (Sergey Russkikh pl...
Kangchungtse (Makalu II) Attempt and Tragedy. A ten-member French expedition led by Louis Dollo attempted Kangchungtse by the normalsouth-ridge route. The big snowstorm put an end to this team’s climb as it did to many others this season. The high...
McArthur Peak, Central Spur of South Face, 1988. From May 22, 1988 through May 26, Tim Friesen, Ken Wallator and I climbed a new line on a very prominent spur on the south face of McArthur Peak. The 7000-foot route offered excellent climbing on st...
Bridalveil Falls. In January Mike Weis and I climbed Bridalveil Falls near Telluride. Thin, brittle ice with overhanging bulges combined to make the climb technically the most difficult ice climb we had ever done. We made five leads, some very sho...
Family Butte Group, San Rafael Swell. In April, in the San Rafael Swell near Goblin Valley, Benny Bach, Charles Martin and I climbed what is probably the last unclimbed tower in the Family Butte Group, Son of Putterman (II, A0+). This is the north...
FALL ON SNOW AND ICE, NO BELAYAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount TempleOn August 1, 1990, a party of two climbed the Aemmer) snow couloir variant to the East Ridge route on Mount Temple and scouted out the rest of the route. Because of deteriorating ...
P 5735 and P 6090, Batura Glacier Area. My wife Sue and I enjoyed two weeks in the Batura Glacier area. We left Pasu on August 12 with two porters who carried to Guichisam in three days and then on to the Yoksugoz Glacier, where we pitched Base Ca...
Climbs in Quebrada Ulta, 1974. My wife Jennifer, Chip Morgan, Rick Wilcox and I climbed in the Quebrada Ulta for about ten days. On July 2, 1974 we climbed P 5375 (17,634 feet), the highest point between the Nevado Ulta and the Punta Shilla (incor...
HEIGHT OF EVEREST:Department of GeologyUniversity of OtagoDunedin, N. Z.3rd June, 1953.Sir,In view of the outstanding news from Mt. Everest, and the crowning achievement of the British party, aided so notably by N. Z. climbers, it may be appropria...
Putha Hiunchuli Attempt. German Heinrich Buhr and two Sherpas made an attempt on Putha Hiunchuli (7246 meters, 23,773 feet), hoping to climb the west ridge. They had serious problems on the approach. Their high point was 5300 meters, which they re...
Mount Heyburn, North Buttress of the East (Third) Summit, Sawtooth Mountains. On October 15 my wife Shari and I climbed an obvious buttress on the north face of Hayburn’s east summit. Difficult climbing involved crack climbing. On the fifth pitch ...